Judy wrote:But with him and Mario being buddies, do you think He'll actually get traded?

I believe Mario has said it's completely up to Recchi. If he wants to be traded, he'll be traded. If he doesn't want to, he's here until he wants to be gone.

Now, maybe Recchi's come to the realization that he might not really want to play next year, in which case why not get traded to a Cup contender and see if he can get one more, then retire in Pittsburgh like he wants after this season.

How many "big names" are available right now? Better yet, how many of these big names have relatively cheap contracts that extend beyond this season? Not many.

With Weight now out of the picture, there is one fewer proven player for teams to fight for.

Now, I'm not saying Recchi or Leclair are gamebreakers or superstars anymore -- they're not. But, they are proven veterans who can add to a playoff team.

With that being said, I'd like to see the Pens try to get a young defenseman for one of these guys. If that means including Malone, Jackman or even someone like Lannon, I'm all for it. Volchenkov really impresses me, though I highly doubt the Sens would part with him.

Judy wrote:But with him and Mario being buddies, do you think He'll actually get traded?

I highly doubt Recchi would have any problem being dealt to Ottawa, a team that has a great chance to win a Cup. Recchi probably would try to nix a deal to a team like Toronto or Atlanta or Montreal (not that we'd deal with them, just an example), teams that may or may not make the playoffs.

Defence21 wrote:With that being said, I'd like to see the Pens try to get a young defenseman for one of these guys. If that means including Malone, Jackman or even someone like Lannon, I'm all for it. Volchenkov really impresses me, though I highly doubt the Sens would part with him.

No way. No team is going to serve us a good young defenseman on a platter while they help us with an obvious salary dump.

I'd agree that the price went up, but not all that much. Recchi still has the no-trade and while that may not affect any potential return value, it will limit the number of teams in the running, which means less bidding if it came to that.

LeClair has had a good run lately, but he's still on the downside of his career. If a team has a specific role for him, he could help a contender though.

What I wonder about is, if the Pens do move one or both, how willl that affect future FA signings? Will players be as likley to sign here if they see half the guys that did before get traded away? I don't know...

netwolf wrote:What I wonder about is, if the Pens do move one or both, how willl that affect future FA signings? Will players be as likley to sign here if they see half the guys that did before get traded away? I don't know...

I don't think it's that big of a deal. Obviously, LeClair and Recchi came here thinking this was a playoff team. They would not have signed with a team like St. Louis that was obviously rebuilding or Washington.

Honestly, though, if it keeps the Pens from signing 53 free agents every year, I'm all for it. They need to learn how to build a team through drafting and development like Ottawa did.

yeltzen wrote:Honestly, though, if it keeps the Pens from signing 53 free agents every year, I'm all for it. They need to learn how to build a team through drafting and development like Ottawa did.

Agree to a point. Drafting and development is the way the build a franchise, but you do need to be able to add pieces here and thereas well.

Oh, absolutely. But the Pens just try to bypass it by signing a bunch of big names every few years. I really don't think this will affect them too much. Palffy retired, LeClair and Recchi came here for one reason and it didn't work out. There are many more examples of free agents being treated great here and loving it than being treated poorly and hating it.

In the past, the bypassing it may have been forced due to their failures the in the drafting/developing fronts. Doing a better job in those areas will lessen the need for FA signings and allow you to mke better trades if you want to.